Yukino was quiet as her and Haruka walked through the forest around Fuuka Academy. Haruka had came to the Academy as soon as her last classes were done at Fuuka Universtity and waited patiently as Yukino finished her business as Student Council President. Haruka had left the Executive Committee in Yukino’s hands, but when she found out that students wanted Yukino as president Haruka has to push her sky friend into going for the position.

Both girls were quiet, Yukino knew this to be uncharacteristic of Haruka, but didn’t question it. It had become a normal thing for the two best friends to hang out every chance they got. Haruka helped Yukino make some of the harder decisions for the Student Council whereas Yukino helped Haruka with her many projects to try and out-do her rival Shizuru Fujino. The one thing the two friends avoided talking about, though, was the HiME Festival. After Yukino told Haruka (almost) everything they didn’t bring it up again. Haruka understood for the most part, but would push Yukino for more on occasion and Yukino didn’t wish to explain certain things.

After about 30 minutes of mostly-silence Haruka stopped dead in her tracks, Yukino paused as well and turned around to face her counterpart.

“Is something wrong Haruka?” Yukino inquired, examining the blonde with her chocolate brown eyes. Haruka’s eyes were closed and her head bowed down, her left fist clenched, then she looked up, her lavender eyes seeming to bore right into Yukino who shivered at Haruka’s intense glaze. “Haruka…?”

“Yukino… are you—“ Haruka had no idea how to form the sentence, shouldn’t this be simple? She had formed a guess as to what Yukino had been keeping from her, and the words of Fujino were in her head. “Fujino said something that… got to me.” Haruka admitted, her expression was still fierce, but she began to blush and turned her gaze away from Yukino slightly. Yukino paled, she didn’t like where this was going.

“Whatever it is Haruka you can—“ But Haruka interrupted her, burning eyes back on Yukino. “What? Tell you? You’re still keeping things from me.” Haruka calmed herself and took a deep breath; she had to get this out. “Fujino said you’re a lot like her in some ways I was going to argue but she made a few good points… she mentioned that you’d be willing to do anything for your most important person, including living a lie. I didn’t know what she meant fully, and then I saw Kuga walking up, skipping school of course, and I thought…” Haruka trailed off, blushing again, she began shaking her head violently. Yukino noticed how beautiful Haruka looked, even as she knew she was about to be questioned about what she dreaded most.

“Oh Haruka… I don’t know…” Yukino gave Haruka a pleading look, praying she’d drop it but knew that wasn’t the case, especially if Shizuru mentioned it to her. Haruka then walked forward and grabbed Yukino by the shoulders and locked lavender eyes with chocolate. Before Haruka could say a word to her stunned counterpart a beam of light shot at the feet of the two girls and sent them flying. Haruka grabbed Yukino and held her as they both hit a tree. As they slide to the ground they looked at what had attacked the two. Yukino gasped in confusion. “An Orphan!?!? But—How!?!” Yukino exclaimed as the creature approached.

“You mean one of those things you spoke of?” Haruka asked, she then untangled herself from Yukino and stood up. “I won’t let you harm Yukino!” Haruka exclaimed, her lavender eyes lighting up as she stood in front of Yukino to protect her. Yukino looked at her stunned, then the thought came to her that if an Orphan was here she may be able to use her powers. Before Yukino could think to much on that the Orphan launched itself at the pair. Yukino jumped up but, to her shock, Haruka suddenly materialized a huge mace-like weapon and hit the Orphan whom flew back into a nearby tree. “What is… AH!” Haruka screamed, flailing madly with the mace in hand. Yukino moved to avoid when the Orphan recovered and launched toward the two again. Haruka stopped flailing and held her mace, the possible attack making her defensive when Yukino took the forefront and summoned her mirror-element.

“DIANA!” Yukino exclaimed, calling forth her Child. Yukino looked in shock as she noticed differences in Diana, she was always flower-esque but always more of a closed flower, nao Diana was more open, if that made sense. Diana attacked the Orphan with her vines, but she was merely containing it.

“Great job Yukino!” Haruka exclaimed, though she had no idea what to do herself. “Perhaps it is time you summoned your Child, Haruka Suzushiro.” Haruka and Yukino turned to see a silver-haired boy standing in the tree.

“Nagi.” Yukino said it with venom. Haruka wasn’t use to hearing her friend sound so harsh. “Haruka, you might have noticed your dear friend is a defensive HiME, not too good at offense. Perhaps you can help her… if she’s your Key as you are hers.” Nagi spoke calmly which angered Haruka.

“I don’t know what you’re—“ But then the Orphan ripped though the vines. Haruka’s eyes got wide and she ran in front of Yukino.

“Who is your Most Important Person?” Nagi asked.

“YUKINO!” Haruka screamed, not even realizing she was accidently replying to Nagi. As the Orphan stopped a few feet in front of her and Yukino about to fire its beam, Haruka then readied her mace and screamed, by some sort of instinct, a name. “Koumokuten!” Haruka yelled, and as she did a large and grotesque marine creature-like Child appeared. It resembled an angler fish. Yukino noticed, as she released her Child’s spores to create a barrier, that they resembled blossomed flowers with mirrors instead of closed buds.

“Haruka, be careful.” Yukino warned, fearing for both of them if either of their Children got hurt. Haruka nodded and the Orphan leapt while firing a beam. Koumokuten fired his own beam from his mouth and it hit the Orphans beam. When Koumokuten’s beam began to overtake the Orphans the Orphan ceased fire and dove to the side, causing Koumokuten’s beam to miss. The Orphan sprang to attack from the side, Koumokuten being to slow to stop the beam and maneuver faster, but Diana sprung into action, the new Mirrored-flowers, though invisible to all but Yukino, began to reflect Koumokuten’s beam in different directions at a rapid speed and hit the Orphan hard, causing the Orphan to be destroyed.

Yukino watched in shock as Haruka’s Child approached Diana. The angler fish-type Child touched its head to Diana and both of the Children vanished. Haruka stared at Yukino, the first time she saw Yukino’s mirror element since the night where they confronted Fujino. Yukino took in the realization that Haruka was nao a HiME.

“Well Yukino , Haruka, it seems you both have a strong bond. As each others Key you’ll be spending a lot more time together.” Nagi began, making himself known. The two turned in acknowledgment of his presence. Nagi continued before either HiME could speak. “The star may be gone, but it’s power remains. Other than the original twelve, or should I say thirteen if we count Alyssa Searrs, there are more HiME, how many remains unknown. Not everything is the same as the festival, though, but you’ll need to stick together.”

“What’s going on!?! I demand an answer!” Haruka yelled, pointing her giant mace at the balanced Nagi who merely grinned like a Cheshire Cat.

“Never lose your Key girls because if you do you may lose everything.” And with that said, Nagi vanished. Yukino, tears in her eyes, came up behind Haruka and wrapped her arms around her middle. Haruka began blushing and her mace dematerialized. She could hear soft sobs coming from her best friend and felt a strong urge to do anything to make her Yukino stop crying. “What’s wrong Yukino?” Haruka inquired her voice almost a whisper compared to her usually loud tone. Yukino wrapped her arms tighter around Haruka.

“I can’t lose you again. I just… can’t. I’m not strong enough to be without you.” Yukino confessed. Haruka turned herself around as well as she could within Yukino’s grasp and returned to affection by wrapping her arms around Yukino’s waist.

“You’re strong enough, it’s me who isn’t.” Haruka confessed, pulling Yukino a bit closer, “I won’t be able to to be separated from you. I’ll destroy anyone who tries with my incurable strength!” Haruka exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood. Yukino let out a giggle.

Completely relieved that classes were over at Fuuka University, Shizuru had left the University in a hurry and was already on course towards Fuuka Academy to surprise a certain blue haired beauty. The brunette wasn't surprised to find Haruka was about as eager to get to the Academy and smiled at the thought of her reuniting with Yukino. It was rather sweet. Shizuru secretly respected Haruka more than the blonde knew.. it was Haruka's loyalty to Yukino and her dedication to the Student Council that intrigued her.

A wry smile crept across her lips when memories she dreaded remembering slithered their way back to mind. It pained her to turn against Haruka and Yukino during the HiME Festival, but she was only doing so to protect Natsuki. The world was at the brink of ending along with everyone's sanity, anyone would've done the same for their precious one. Pushing the memories away with a strained sigh, Shizuru turned onto the path that led through the forest and to Fuuka Academy.

Knowing well the walk would take a while, Shizuru decided to listen to some tunes along the way and reached into her backpack, digging around for her iPod. As she was fishing it out, she heard a familiar shout from nearby and her stomach knotted up. It wasn't the voice itself that made her tense up.. it was the name that was shouted out.

She instantly paled as her eyes widened, 'That sounded like Yukino! A-am I imaging things again..?' She held her breath for a moment, straining to listen and only heard sounds of mother nature. She would've marked it off as her imagination haunting her yet again if it wasn't for the loud sounds that emerged shortly after. They were sounds of a battle dance.

With a tight grip onto her backpack, Shizuru started running up the path as she followed the sounds and froze at the sight up ahead. Slowly walking up to a large oak tree at the forest's edge near the Head Director's garden, the brunette stared at the scene before her unfolding with a clenched jaw. There stood Yukino.. with Diana, her Child behind her. The shout she heard from earlier wasn't a figment of her imagination. It was her nightmare coming back to life.

The brunette had to grip a hand on the trunk of the oak tree in front of her to hold herself from falling, her knees becoming weak from dread. The sight of Nagi standing a distance from Haruka and Yukino, a smirk sprawled across the runt's face didn't help.

Shizuru didn't even bother to stay and listen to what Nagi had to say. Only one thing was on her mind as she pulled away from the oak tree and headed towards Fuuka Academy.

Natsuki was just finishing her classes at Fuuka Academy, she was very ansty and squirmy as she was really wanting to be done for the day. She wanted to see her girlfriend a lot, missing the brunette everytime she left to go back to school. The bell finally rang and she leapt out of her seat after gathering her books. She shot out of class, running to her locker to put her books away and went outside, only to pause as she heard the sounds of a battle going on. Hmm? What is that? It sounds vaguely familiar... sounds like a battle... She froze, images running though head as she backed away from all the sounds. She was in no mood for battle right nao, even though her mind really wanted to find out what it was and she simply wanted to see Shizuru.

She walked around, poking for Shizuru. But instead of Shizuru, she saw Haruka and Yukino. Her face creased a bit as she saw the signs of a battle. It was HERE! She ran up to them, calling out softly. Yukino, Haruka! What happened here? Looks like you guys got into a huge battle! She was rather concerned, looking at them a bit.

Last edited by Natsuki Kruger on Mon May 09, 2011 2:28 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : not quite long enough)

"My lady?" Miyu announced as she walked into the bedroom. Alyssa was finishing up putting away her books. "My lady, have you completed your assignments?"

"Yeah," Alyssa said simply as she zipped up her backpack. She said nothing further as she placed it on her chair and walked towards the door.

"My lady?" Miyu inquired.

"I know, Miyu, I'm going to the sanctuary nao," Alyssa said as she walked right by Miyu into the hallway. Miyu just watched Alyssa walk silently save for her footsteps down the hall and turn down the stairs. It had been going on for a while nao, pretty much ever since the HiME Star had been destroyed. Sugiura-sensei had reactivated her, and the former Director had restored Alyssa along with everyone else, but after the Carnival, Alyssa had seemed..."dead" was not the right term to use - she was very much alive - but her enthusiasm had waned. Some days, Miyu observed a noticeable decrease in the volume and inflection of her voice. It wasn't always there, but in all her years of serving her, Miyu had never seen Alyssa so...she struggled to find the right terms. Perhaps that is simply something humans can do better. Miyu can monitor many different measures of Alyssa's physical health, but this seemed different.

Miyu eventually followed Alyssa down the stairs. She stood at the bottom, looking at Alyssa, who was nao at the far end of the sanctuary, looking out the opened doors and into the afternoon sky. "What are you thinking, my lady?" Miyu asked to herself. She wanted to know.

All of a sudden, what sounded like faint explosions echoed in from outside. "My lady?" Miyu asked, this time with concern.

Alyssa turned her head to see her guardian approach. "Miyu? Did you hear that?"

Yukino and Haruka quickly separated form their embrace, both blushing profusely. Neither had expected anyone to find them, but just because Yukino could hide visual didn't mean audio was covered.

"What are you doing here!?!" Haruka demanded of the blunette, but before Natsuki was allowed to answer Yukino spoke up.

"Natsuki, there's a little issues..." Yukino then proceeded to explain everything Nagi had told them along with the events of the battle, "...So you see, we need to warn the others. It is very likely that everyone may get the wrong idea and think we have to fight when we should be more concerned with the HiME we don't know." Yukino looked at Natsuki, then at Haruka, and sighed, lowering her head.

"Does this mean I've got to make sure the bubuzuke woman doesn't run out of class every five seconds to try and save Natsuki from, idk, a delayed text message or miscounted information?" Haruka inquired.

"It's misconstrued Haruka, and yes." Yukino confirmed. "Natsuki, we best go with you to find Shizuru."

"I agree. If I know anything, I know the bubuzuke woman is probably looking for you right nao in a panic." Haruka said with an eyeroll.

Shizuru was starting to become worried when Natsuki was nowhere in sight. Not even by her Ducati.

'I wonder if she and all the other HiMEs heard the battle.'

Something weird happened when she saw Nagi, she had felt a strange burning on her left hip where her HiME mark used to be. It made her wonder if the other HiMEs had experienced the same thing. With a soft sigh, she left the Academy after managing to escape the pack of rabid fangirls. Apparently they've been Shizuru-deprived, evident by the look of disarray the brunette had after escaping.

Deciding to listen to her gut feeling, she returned to the Head Director's garden where she had seen Nagi and Yukino's Child as she fixed her hair and looked around. Shizuru felt relief wash over her, spotting familiar navy-hair and jogged over to other HiMEs quickly. "Natsuki! I'm so glad you're alright.." She locked the girl into a tight hug before flushing lightly, realizing that they weren't alone and pulled away slowly, glancing over at Haruka and Yukino. She didn't have one of those smiles she'd always wear this time.. instead, a serious expression took place. "What's going on? Why is Nagi back?"

Natsuki's eyes had gone wide at the sight of Haruka and Yukino hugging and a faint blush formed across her cheeks. "Ah..." She was about to say something when she was cut off, glancing at Yukino and listening to everything said. "..." She was quiet, not saying anything as she listened and finally spoke after a few minutes. "I see..." She creased her face when they talked about Shizuru, jumping when said older girl hugged her suddenly. "Ah... Shizuru." She didn't even pull away, happy that the brunette was alright. "HiMEs are back." She looked up at the brunette, her eyes very serious as she spoke, feeling really tense right nao as she stood there, looking from Shizuru to Haruka and Yukino. She was still a little shocked at that one, though she had been expecting it like all the others were. "Mm..."

"Yes, my lady," Miyu answered, reaching the doors where Alyssa stood. Additional faint explosions echoing into the sanctuary confirmed that neither of them were hallucinating it. "My lady, would you like me to go investigate?" Miyu asked.

"If that's all right with you," the blonde replied. "At least one of us has to be here to take care of the chapel, and if whatever's going on out there turns out to be dangerous..."

"I understand, my lady." With that, Miyu walked out and virtually disappeared in the blink of an eye once she reached the road outside the chapel. Alyssa just stood at the door, looking out at where she last saw Miyu, and for some reason, feeling more uneasy than usual. Well, to be precise any time Miyu wasn't around Alyssa never felt as sure of herself, but nao especially with Searrs having cut them loose, she was really the only being she to trust.

"Come back safe, Miyu," she said quietly before heading back inside towards the pulpit.

Yukino pulled closer to Haruka, grabbing onto her arm in a half-protective/half-fearful way. Haruka blushed and tried to pretend she hadn't noticed as she turned her attention elsewhere. "What are you going to do Fujino? Hopefully not go crazy on us like you did before." Haruka shot out like a barb. "If you think I'll let you harm Yukino again I swear--" But Haruka felt Yukino tug on her arm and turned. Yukino gave a sigh. "Natsuki. Miss. Fujino. I would like it very much if we could all work together to keep things from falling apart. No star and no Obsidian Lord this time. Just wild HiME with, um, elements. Seeing as they cannot summon their Child without their, um, key there. Seeing as everyone here has a good idea of who is whose keys... well, yes. Be best not to fight." Yukino looked at Haruka pleadingly and Haruka sighed. "I agree with Yukino." She agreed.

Miyu raced along from treetop to treetop, the faint smoke in the distance her beacon towards which she was moving. As she drew closer she could see four figures standing in a small clearing, as well as the remains of what appeared to be an Orphan. Miyu stopped at the top of a high branch, out of sight of the other four, and with a quick search through her database identified the four as Yukino Kikukawa, Haruka Suzushiro, Natsuki Kuga, and Shizuru Fujino. She used a directional microphone built into her system to listen on the conversation from afar:

Kikukawa: "...as they cannot summon their Child without their, um, Key there. Seeing as everyone here has a good idea of who is whose Keys...well, yes. Be best not to fight."

Suzushiro: "I agree with Yukino."

Miyu made note of the new term Kikukawa had used, "Key", though she waited until someone else continued the conversation before coming to any conclusions.

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Meanwhile, Alyssa waited. And waited. And waited. Not even at night when the lights were off did the chapel seem so eerie. But even though it was starting to rain outside, there was too much light pouring in from the windows to justify turning on the lights. It was probably the rain that was keeping people away - she couldn't imagine a lot of people would want to walk outside in the rain during muggy monsoon season. She sighed as she sat down in the front pew, swinging her legs onto the bench and using the side of the pew as a backrest, flipping her hair to the outside so that it wouldn't get in the way. The Sister would yell at her for dirtying the bench like that, but she wasn't here nao. In her anxiou- boredom, she began to sing softly:

"Who are those little girls in painJust dropped in the castle of the dark side of the moon?Twelve of them shining bright in vainLike flowers that blossom just once in a year..."

Shizuru almost flinched at Haruka's barb but let it slide and ignored the slight pang of pain in her chest. She didn't even bare a reassuring smile or a smile of any kind. The brunette frowned instead and tugged Natsuki closer to her. "Hai, please.. I do not have any intentions of going against anyone but Nagi this time. I just want this nightmare to be over with." She muttered the words softly and tightened her hold on Natsuki. "We probably should go and find the other HiMEs before they get the wrong idea. Come on, Natsuki.. let's go and find Miss Sugiura. I think I just saw her with Youko."

Natsuki was blushing with all of Shizuru's hugging, though she did listen to what Yukino was saying. Her face was serious as she thought on it a bit and remained quite silent. She just nodded a bit, and gave a soft sound at Shizuru's tight hug. "..." Her blush deepened slightly when she finally spoke. "I agree as well... I don't want to fight any of you..." She looked up at Shizuru, giving her a warm, reasurring smile. "Yeah, lets go find her... she should know."------------------------------

Nearby, Nao had been resting in a tree when the battle started, prompting her to fall from it. "Ah?" She flipped mid fall, landing on her feet. "Mmmm... that's good. But what in the world is going on here? That sounded like an Orphan, which is strange." She started to follow the sounds and got there when it had just finished, watching Haruka and Yukino. Then when Natsuki and Shizuru joined them, she climbed up another tree and listened in to what they were saying. 'Ah... that is interesting... so the HiME are back... I can use my powers again? I definitely like the sound of that.'She gave a smirk, tilting her head as she dragged one hand through her red hair in thought. 'Mmmm... this shall definitely be fun... even though they don't wanna fight the HiME already known. I'm gonna have a blast.'

Miyu continued to listen in on the rest of the conversation. Something was wrong. It should not be the case that the Valkyries' powers have returned, nor should there be any Orphans at all, since Homura was the source of the vast majority of them and her lady had not summoned any either. Perhaps she should question Kikukawa about what is going on - she seemed to have a good deal of information about this incident, and it will be easier to ascertain the truth if she talked with her and Suzushiro.

On the other hand, if Orphans have indeed returned, then there is the possibility that her lady is in danger. If that is the case, then contacting Kuga and Fujino would seem to be the more prudent option, as they are the more skilled in combat among the four present. In addition, they are seeking Miss Sugiura, who despite her eccentric behavior is a capable leader and adept combatant as well.

Kuga: "Yeah, lets go find her... she should know."

Miyu could not be in two places at once. She would have to decide which pair would be more beneficial.

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"They're dancing in the shadows like whispers of loveJust dreaming of a place where they're free as a dove.They have never been allowed to love in this cursed cageIt's only the fairy-"

A wooden clacking noise interrupted Alyssa's singing. She spun her head in the direction where it came from - the doorway leading to the basement of the chapel. She got up off the bench and cautiously approached the door. It was probably just a rat knocking something over or something, she told herself. Still, the fact that Miyu wasn't around made her just a little bit...cautious. Yeah, cautious.

Haruka huffed after a moment, getting back her leading spark and grabbed Yukino's hand, leading her away from Shizuru and Natsuki. Yukino blinked, her glasses sliding down her face as she followed her partner blindly. Soon she saw the Chapel pop up into her vision. "Where are we going Haruka-Chan?" Yukino inquired, but Haruka didn't stop. "Please tell me we aren't confessing." Yukino asked with dread. "No, it's the most private place I can think of. No one goes their willfully." Haruka grunted, a blush on her face. Yukino smiled, pushing up her glasses. "It's willingly Haruka-Chan." Yukino corrected, causing Haruka to stop and glare at her. "I know Yu--" But she was stopped by Yukino's lips meeting hers in a kiss. The blonde blushed, but returned then kiss, still feeling unsure at everything going on. "Um... let's keep going. I'm sure Alyssa and Miyu will let us use the basement to talk..."

Kuga, Fujino, and Sugiura were generally known quantities in Miyu's calculations. Miyu had concluded that delaying getting into contact with them until later was an acceptable risk - it was most likely, at least for the time being, that her capabilities alone would be sufficient to protect her lady. From the portion of the conversation Miyu was able to listen in on, it was more likely that Kikukawa and Suzushiro were more informed of the situation - it would be more likely that they knew what was going on. And given the many unknown quantities surrounding this new revelation over the downed Orphan, Miyu had calculated it to be more prudent that more information be attained first.

With that, Miyu tailed after the bespectacled Student Council president and her bombastic mentor. So as not to startle the pair by appearing all of a sudden - they were likely to be on a bit of an adrenaline rush having just fought an Orphan - Miyu raced ahead above them via treetop before coming down to ground level behind a curve in the path and began walking towards them from the opposite direction.

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The bare light bulbs that lit the way down to the basement revealed nothing out of the ordinary visually, but the rustling noises still reached Alyssa's ears. Cautiously, she descended the staircase, her light footsteps slowly pattering her way down. The occasional noise continued as it was before - it didn't seem like whoever was down there heard her feet (or cared). When Alyssa reached the bottom of the staircase she slowly peered around the corner.

At first, she saw nothing out of the ordinary - the boxes of random church stuff stacked in one corner (albeit one seemed to have been knocked over), her medical examination table in another, the huge-ass computer terminal next to it, some random bathroom mirrors in the far corner. But the rustling still continued, drawing the blonde into the area. With a bit of listening, Alyssa deduced that it seemed to be coming from behind the mainframe. Alyssa spotted a fortuitously located flashlight and picked it up as she quietly approached the little gap between the terminal and mainframe. As she got closer, the rustling became more distinctive, reminding her of a rat chewing through cardboard, but when she reached about a yard from the entrance to the gap, the terminal suddenly blipped off, causing her to freeze momentarily. Wait a minute...something's chewing her wires! How dare it! With a burst of fury-driven adrenaline she raced into the gap and shined the flashlight behind the mainframe, half a mind to scare those things away and stop the damage to her precious computer.

Her suspicion had been right: a pair of brownish, cat-sized rodent-looking creatures looked up, large buck teeth bared. Below them bare wires were exposed, the copper twisted way out of shape. An audible hiss was returned to Alyssa.

All of a sudden, rushing into the situation didn't seem like such a good idea.

Haruka and Yukino entered the church which was oddly quiet for this time of day."Sister Nao? Sister Miyu? Miss. Alyssa? Hello?" Yukino called out."No one's here, we can talk." Haruka gave a sigh of relief."This isn't normal..." Yukino muttered."Let's go on an head to the basement... I don't want to be interrupted..." Haruka muttered, grabbing Yukino and pulling her down into the basement where they then found Alyssa being cornered by two rodent-looking Orphans."Alyssa! Behind me!" Haruka exclaimed, jumping in-front of the Golden Angel and summoning her element. Haruka then charged the rodent-Orphans and Yukino stepped up to Alyssa's side, her Mirror-elements summoned and then she summoned her Child. "DIANA!" Yukino called, "Be careful Haruka!" She added then turned to Alyssa. "You'll be okay, I swear."

Alyssa had been backed into a corner next to the bathroom mirrors. This was not good at all. One of the Orphans made a lunge at her, but a desperation swing of her flashlight connected with its head, knocking it back.

"Alyssa! Behind me!" Alyssa stole a glance to the side to see Suzushiro and Kikukawa rushing to her rescue. (Wait, rushing to her rescue?) Fear took a back seat once Kikukawa positioned herself in front of Alyssa as Haruka went to deal with the Orphans. A flood of questions rushed to her. What were they doing here? Why were they interdicting to save her? Where did Suzushiro pick up that huge mace? Why was Kikukawa able to call on her Child?

Where the hell was Miyu?

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Miyu re-entered the church's grounds. Suzushiro and Kikukawa had moved faster than she had anticipated, and missed meeting them before they had entered the church. She walked one step into the sanctuary and stopped - Alyssa wasn't around. A commotion from somewhere alerted Miyu to a situation developing, and she materialized a sword on her arm. "My lady," she said quietly, tracking the noise to the basement stairs.

Even though Shizuru knew she shouldn't feel like this way, but she was relieved to be away from the other HiMEs. Not that she didn't trust them, she just preferred to be safe than sorry. She knew Haruka and Yukino were fine, but right now they had to find Midori and more importantly, Nao. She certainly didn't want to go through hell with the redhead again.

Unfortunately, when she reached the clinic.. Midori and Youko were no where to be found. But the thing that worried her the most was that the clinic was literally trashed. The brunette stared at the room in shock.

Natsuki followed Shizuru around after watching Haruka and Yukino leave. She was being incredibly quiet as she walked, shoving her hands into the pockets of her school jacket as she padded after the brunette. She didn't know what to think right now, actually she didn't even wanna think all together. It just made her head hurt a bit to think so much. She went with Shizuru to the clinic and saw it all trashed, finally speaking. "Oh wow... what do you think happened here Shizuru? Looks like someone got into a fight around here." She started to frown, glancing around and something passed by the window, catching her attention. It was a bit of bright red hair. 'Hm? Is that... who I think it might be?' She walked to the window and looked out it. It was the person she thought it was, Nao. "Ne, Shizuru? Were we looking for anyone in particular? Say... Nao for instance?"-----------------------------------------------Nao had leapt from her tree after a while of thinking, planning. She started to walk, considering everything around her a bit. "Mmmmmmm... this will definitely be interesting. I wonder what will happen." She was basically talking to herself and was ignoring all the people around. She glanced upwards, finding herself near the infirmary and shrugged, passing by one of the windows. Her red hair was easy to spot as she moved, her jade green orbs starting to move around in interest of everything. 'Mmmmmmm...'

In a flash Miyu raced down the stairs to the basement and saw Kikukawa and Suzushiro keeping a pair of rodent-sized Orphans away from Alyssa. Suzushiro was wielding a large mace that appeared to be an Element to engage the Orphans while Kikukawa was using Diana to cover Alyssa.

Alyssa looked over and saw her metal guardian. "Miyu!" she cried out.

"My lady!"

One of the Orphans managed to sidestep around Haruka and made a lunge for Yukino and Alyssa. Yukino prepared to deflect the attack but Miyu rushed in between Haruka and Yukino and with a swift move impaled the Orphan in midair with her blade, pinning it against the concrete wall above Alyssa's medical examination bed. When the Orphan was immobilized Miyu turned to the pair. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine Sister Miyu." Yukino said with a nod. Then Haruka gave a loud scream and the other Orphan was defeated."That takes care of that... thanks for that Sister Greer." Haruka stated with a grin, leaning on her mace. Yukino sighed and de-materialized Diana and her element."Miss. Alyssa, we were going to inform you of the return of the HiME and of the changes it holds... I suppose we don't have to worry about you not believing us." Yukino stated dryly, wiping her head. "Perhaps we should go get more comfortable." Yukino suggested.

Alyssa could scarcely comprehend what had just happened between being attacked by Orphans, the return of Childs, and Suzushiro wielding a freakin' mace (though on second thought, it was a rather appropriate weapon for her to have). Miyu's presence, though, was calming, her (very) subtle nods indicating to Alyssa that what Kikukawa had said was true, or at least consistent. Alyssa looked over at the vanquished Orphans. "Miyu, could you get some chairs for our guests?" she asked.

"Yes, my lady." The android walked over to a nearby closet and retrieved two folding chairs. Alyssa climbed into her desk chair at the computer (now offline thanks to those Orphans) and turned to face the bespectacled Student Council President and her mentor, motioning them to take a seat. "Could you explain what exactly you mean by 'return of the HiME'? I know what I just saw, but what exactly do you know?"

Yukino bowed and sat down, she gave Haruka a stern look and the former Executive Officer sighed and sat down as well, dematerializeing her element. Yukino launched into an explanation of the events that occurred, what Nagi had said about 'keys' and no star and new HiME, pointing out Haruka as an example of the new ones who could be many an anyone.

"Do you have any questions Miss. Alyssa?" Yukino inquired, her hand moving to hold Haruka's. The busty blonde blushed as their hands intertwined. Haruka wanted to say something, but thought it best to wait. Having Yukino be in charge like this when she was so use to it confused her, also a bit scary.

Alyssa would have scarcely believed anything Kikukawa said had she not seen with her own eyes what just happened. Especially Suzushiro. Alyssa sat intently, committing every detail she said to memory.

"Do you have any questions Miss Alyssa?" Kikukawa had asked. Did she have any questions? Does the Pacific have any water? So many ran through her head. How is the HiME Star's power still available if the star itself is gone? What did Nagi mean when he said if Alyssa was counted as a HiME? (Speaking of which, didn't he go away for all eternity with Kaza-frickin'-hana?) Did that mean Artemis was back? How many other HiME could be out there? Does Searrs know about this?

All these were questions, those two probably couldn't answer. But the question that Alyssa asked out loud first was one that they could, and one that had been bothering her as soon as they had shown up for the rescue: "Why tell me all this? I'm grateful for your assistance, but why come to my aid? I tried to kill you before, remember?" Alyssa kept an even look on her face as she asked.